var http_request = false;
var spanid ='';

function makePOSTRequest(url,parameters,spanidpass)
{
    spanid = spanidpass;
    http_request = false;
    if (window.XMLHttpRequest)
    {
        // Mozilla, Safari,...
        http_request = new XMLHttpRequest();
        if (http_request.overrideMimeType)
        {
            //set type accordingly to anticipated content type
            //http_request.overrideMimeType('text/xml');
            http_request.overrideMimeType('text/html');
        }
    }
    else if (window.ActiveXObject)
    {
        // IE
        try
        {
            http_request = new ActiveXObject("Msxml2.XMLHTTP");
        }
        catch (e)
        {

            try
            {

                http_request = new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLHTTP");
            }
            catch (e) {}
        }
    }
    if (!http_request)
    {
        alert('Cannot create XMLHTTP instance');
        return false;
    }
    http_request.onreadystatechange = alertContents;
    http_request.open('POST', url, true);
    http_request.setRequestHeader("Content-type", "application/x-www-form-urlencoded");
    http_request.setRequestHeader("Content-length", parameters.length);
    http_request.setRequestHeader("Connection", "close");
    http_request.send(parameters);
}

function alertContents()
{
    if (http_request.readyState == 4)
    {
        if (http_request.status == 200)
        {
            result = http_request.responseText;

            document.getElementById(spanid).innerHTML = result;
        }
        else
        {
            alert('There was a problem with the request.');
        }
    }

}